Published: Friday, April 5, 2013 at 4:41 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, April 5, 2013 at 7:25 p.m.

In this Sept. 29, 2009 file photo, a construction crew works on the control tower at the Ocala International Airport.

Alan Youngblood/Star-Banner

The Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday that it will not close the 149 federal contract control towers throughout the country until June 15. Ocala International Airport’s tower was scheduled to close on April 21 as part of the FAA’s efforts to cut spending required by the federal budget sequestration.

“It buys everyone more time in order to get their defenses together and justification of why the tower should stay open,” said Matthew Grow, Ocala’s airport director. “It helps us all the way around, all the airports involved.”

The FAA has plans to reduce its expenditures by $600 million, which includes a 75 percent cut in the contract tower program.

Airports around the country that operate with contract towers that are facing closure have balked. Some have threatened lawsuits against the FAA. Ocala is employing the help of its federal legislators. Congressmen Richard B. “Rich” Nugent and Ted Yoho have visited Ocala’s airport in recent weeks.

“They spoke with the tower manager at length,” Grow said. “They have a firm understanding of what the control tower is and what it means to the city of Ocala and the airport. Both indicated they would like to see the program funded and how it gets to that point they were going to look into.”

Congressman Nugent wrote to Michael Huerta, administrator of the FAA, on March 13 expressing his displeasure at the closing of Ocala’s tower, citing its negative impact on safety and operational efficiency of the National Airspace System. He pointed out to Huerta that Ocala’s airport is “one of only 84 ‘National’ General Aviation Airports. I don’t doubt that this designation is due in no small part to the interstate air ambulance flights that come out of OCF.” In addition, he wrote that Ocala supports disaster relief efforts and provides emergency response to natural disasters and serves as a portable air tanker base for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service.

Grow said that the city will continue to explore all of its options. Although Ocala has not joined any lawsuits to keep its tower open, it is something it may investigate and bring to the City Council for its consideration, he said.

Obviously, the closing is a concern to Grow.

“They assured us that safety would not be affected,” Grow said about the FAA. “It’s hard to believe that when you are closing so many airport control towers in the system and not looking at the individual ramifications on each airport.”

Burt Willis, air traffic manager for Robinson Aviation Inc., which has the contract with the FAA to operate the Ocala tower, said nothing has changed except the date of the closing has been pushed back to June 15.

“We are going to work as normal, just like we always have,” Willis said.

Even so, he said his five air traffic controller are pleased.

“It was done kind of helter skelter. People didn’t have a chance to evaluate it,” Willis said about the closings.

He said several pilots have made inquiries over the air and voiced support for keeping the towers open until June 15.

“I think the pilots are really pleased,” Willis said.

He said airports can operate without towers but there are times when airports the size of Ocala’s really need a controller.

“We are hoping people will see that,” Willis said.

Grow said the controllers were relieved.

“The threat of the closure is still there, obviously,” Grow said. “The efforts to keep the towers open will have a better chance of success now that we are not facing the deadline we were before, which was arbitrary.”

He said there is a difference between the FAA-operated towers and the contract-operated towers.

The FAA uses their towers as training grounds for their controllers to eventually move them up to the busier airports, so there is a lot of turnover.

He said the contract controllers, on the other hand, generally are retired from the FAA or the military, so they are very experienced. But they also establish themselves in the community and that is why they are so efficient.

“They bring their families here. It’s six families being turned upside down because of the layoffs at the towers,” Grow said. “Our controllers are relieved that they have 1½ to 2 months of stability.”

Tower operations in Ocala began in May 2010. The seven-story tower’s construction was completed in December 2009 at a cost of $2.43 million, with $1.95 million paid by the Florida Department of Transportation. In January, there were 4,986 air traffic control tower operations at the Ocala airport, which is located at 750 SW 60th Ave.

“It’s hard to see us shut down infrastructure in the United States when we are building up infrastructure in other countries,” Grow said. “It’s a hard pill to swallow.”

Contact Susan Latham Carr at 867-4156 or susan.carr@starbanner.com

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